Recent ASU Crime Statistics Released

The university has four campuses: Tempe, West campus, Polytechnic Campus, downtown Phoenix and ASU Colleges at Lake Havasu City. The report shows crime statistics for 2010, 2011, and 2012. According to the ASU report, the Tempe campus has experienced the most crime over the past year.

The most commonly committed types of crimes were liquor law violations referred for disciplinary action. The 2012 numbers were down from 2011 and 2010, but they were still high. On the Tempe campus, there were 884 liquor law violations on campus property and 863 liquor law violations on residential facilities in 2012. On West Campus there were 39 liquor law violations on campus and 39 at residential facilities in 2012. On Polytechnic Campus, there were 29 such violations on campus properties and 29 at residential facilities in 2012. On the downtown Phoenix campus, there were 62 liquor law violations on campus and 62 at the residential facilities in 2012. The ASU Colleges at Lake Havasu City just opened in 2012 and there were no violations reported. In total there were 2007 liquor law violations at all the campuses. This is lower than the national average for drinking in college.

Although you might think that the most common liquor law violation is driving under the influence, DUIs are expressly not included in the category in the report. The report specifies that instead this category encompasses violations (or attempted violations) of laws prohibiting: the manufacture, sale, transportation, and possessing of intoxicating liquor, as well as maintaining unlawful drinking places, bootlegging, operating a still, furnishing liquor to an underage person, using a vehicle to illegally transport liquor, drinking on a public conveyance.

Under Arizona Revised Statutes 4-244, there are many ways liquor laws may be violated. It is likely the most common violations on a college campus are furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors, possessing alcohol as a minor and drunk and disorderly conduct. These issues frequently come up at college parties and Greek events.

While the most common liquor law violations are those that are referred for disciplinary action, there are also a sizeable number of liquor law arrests. On the Tempe campus alone there were 749 liquor law arrests. There were 815 such arrests on all campuses. The maximum fine for providing alcohol to someone under the age of 21 is $2500, while the maximum jail sentence is 6 months. However, this violation may stay on your criminal record for life and can affect future sentences for other violations and crimes. Moreover, ASU may also call for suspension, expulsion or another sanction.

Another category with a large number of violations was the category of drug law violations referred for disciplinary action. Again, as with the alcohol-related violations, the drug law violations were broken up into drug law arrests and drug law violations referred for disciplinary action. Drug law violations were down from 2011. Still, there were 716 such violations referred for discipline. There were 464 drug law arrests.

The impact of a drug law arrest varies depending on the type of drug, the quantity, and the nature of the offense. For example, simple possession of marijuana weighing less than 2 pounds is usually charged as a class 6 felony (the least serious type of felony charge). There is the potential of a year in jail, though it may be possible to get probation. On the other hand, possession of heroin is considered very serious and even possession of heroin is a Class 4 felony. Selling to a minor (many college students are minors) is a Class 3 felony. Even less serious drug law violations can be harmful because they give offenders a criminal record and can lead to disciplinary action by the school. This can detrimental when you are applying for jobs and have to explain a criminal conviction or irregularity in your transcript.

Regardless of the offense, students should contact an experienced criminal defense attorney to get the charges reduced or to negotiate for a lesser sentence. Contact The Law Office of James Novak at 480-413-1499 for a free consultation.